


The Riddle Shards

by Megalodont



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Chamber of Secrets AU, F/M, Female Tom Riddle, Ginny Weasley Bashing, Ginny dies, Good Tom Riddle, Please Don't Hate Me, Someone dies, Teenage Tom Riddle, Tom Riddle's Diary, Well-Meaning Dumbledore, Young Tom Riddle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-09-12 14:26:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9076450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megalodont/pseuds/Megalodont
Summary: When Harry Potter fails to save Ginny Weasley, the shard of Riddle reanimates. The problem; It was only the sixteen-year-old Riddle preserved in the diary and nowhere near the powerful Voldemort that Harry stopped when he was a year old. Bound by the diary to behave, however, Tom finds something has changed now that so much of Ginny Weasley now exists within her.





	1. The Chamber Of Secrets

  
Harry approached his throat very dry. There was no need to pretend these stone snakes were real; their eyes looked strangely alive. He could guess what he had to do. He cleared his throat, and the emerald eyes seemed to flicker.  
"Open, "said Harry, in a low, faint hiss. The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, and Harry, shaking from head to foot, walked inside. He was standing at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place. His heart beating very fast, Harry stood listening to the chill silence. Could the basilisk be lurking in a shadowy corner, behind a pillar? And where was Ginny? He pulled out his wand and moved forward between the serpentine columns. Every careful footstep echoed loudly off the shadowy walls. He kept his eyes narrowed, ready to clamp them shut at the smallest sign of movement. The hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes seemed to be following him. More than once, with a jolt of the stomach, he thought he saw one stir. Then, as he drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall.  
 Harry had to crane his neck to look up into the giant face above. It was ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous grey feet stood on the smooth Chamber floor. And between the feet, face down lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming red hair.  
"Ginny!" Harry muttered, sprinting to her and dropping to his knees. "Ginny - don't be dead - please don't be dead -" He flung his wand aside, grabbed Ginny's shoulders, and turned her over. Her face was white as marble and as cold, yet her eyes were closed, so she wasn't Petrified. But then she must be  
"Ginny, please wake up," Harry muttered desperately, shaking her. Ginny's head lolled hopelessly from side to side.  
"She won't wake," said a soft voice.  
Harry jumped and spun around on his knees. A tall, black-haired girl was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching. She was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Harry were looking at her through a misted window. But there was no mistaking her  
"Tom - Tom Riddle?"  
Riddle nodded, not taking her eyes off Harry's face.  
        “But you’re…”  
        “A woman, good of you to notice, Potter.”  
        “How can your name be Tom?”  
        “Because that’s the name my mother gave me. “  
"What d'you mean, she won't wake?" Harry said, changing the subject. "She's not - she's not -?"  
"She's still alive," said Riddle. "But only just."  
Harry stared at her. Tom Riddle had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago, yet here she stood, a weird, misty light shining about her, not a day older than sixteen.  
    "Are you a ghost?" Harry said uncertainly.  
"A memory," said Riddle quietly. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years.”  
She pointed toward the floor near the statue's giant toes. Lying open there was the little black diary Harry had found in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. For a second, Harry wondered how it had got there - but there were more pressing matters to deal with.  
"You've got to help me, Tom," Harry said, raising Ginny's head again. "We've got to get her out of here. There's a basilisk ... I don't know where it is, but it could be along any moment ... Please, help me –“  
Riddle didn't move. Harry, sweating, managed to hoist Ginny half off the floor and bent to pick up his wand again. But his wand had gone.  
"Did you see -?"  
He looked up. Riddle was still watching him - twirling Harry's wand between her long fingers.  
"Thanks," said Harry, stretching out his hand for it.  
A smile curled the corners of Riddle's mouth. She continued to stare at Harry, twirling the wand idly.  
"Listen," said Harry urgently, his knees sagging with Ginny's dead weight. "We've got to go! If the basilisk comes -"  
"It won't come until it is called," said Riddle calmly.  
Harry lowered Ginny back onto the floor, unable to hold her up any longer.  
"What d'you mean?" he said. "Look, give me my wand, I might need it -"  
Riddle's smile broadened.  
"You won't be needing it," she said.  
"What d'you mean, I won't be -?"  
"I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter," said Riddle. "For the chance to see you. To speak to you."  
"Look," said Harry, losing patience, "I don't think you get it. We're in the Chamber of Secrets. We can talk later -"  
"We're going to talk now," said Riddle, still smiling broadly, and she pocketed Harry's wand.  
Harry stared at her. There was something very funny going on here...  
"How did Ginny get like this?" he asked slowly.  
"Well, that's an interesting question," said Riddle pleasantly. "And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilt all her secrets to an invisible stranger."  
"What are you talking about?" said Harry.  
"The diary," said Riddle. “My diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes - how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books, how" -Riddle's eyes glinted "how she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her . . . ."  
All the time she spoke, Riddle's eyes never left Harry's face. There was an almost hungry look in them.  
"It's very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven- year-old girl," she went on. "But I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. _No one's ever understood me like you, Tom_ ... _I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in_ ... _It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket_ …” Riddle laughed, a high, cold laugh that didn't suit her. It made the hairs stand up on the back of Harry's neck.  
"If I say it myself, Harry, I've always been able to charm the people I needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted ... I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her.. ."  
"What d'you mean?" said Harry, whose mouth had gone very dry.  
" Haven't you guessed yet, Harry Potter?" said Riddle softly. "Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the Serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat.”  
"No," Harry whispered.  
"Yes," said Riddle, calmly. "Of course, she didn't know what she was doing at first. It was very amusing. I wish you could have seen her new diary entries ... far more interesting, they became ... _Dear Tom,_ " she recited, watching Harry's horrified face, “ _I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and I don't know how they got there. Dear Tom, l can't remember what 1 did on the night of Halloween, but a cat was attacked and I've got paint all down my front. Dear Tom, Percy keeps telling me I'm pale and I'm not myself. I think he suspects me... There was another attack today and I don't know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think I'm going mad... I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom!_ "  
Harry's fists were clenched, the nails digging deep into his Palms.  
"it took a very long time for stupid little Ginny to stop trusting her diary," said Riddle. "But she finally became suspicious and tried to dispose of it. And that's where you came in, Harry. You found it, and I couldn't have been more delighted. Of all the people who could have picked it up, it was you, the very person I was most anxious to meet . . . ."  
"And why did you want to meet me?" said Harry. Anger was coursing through him, and it was an effort to keep his voice steady.  
"Well, you see, Ginny told me all about you, Harry," said Riddle. "Your whole fascinating history. " Her eyes roved over the lightning scar on Harry's forehead, and their expression grew hungrier. "I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, meet you if I could. So I decided to show you my famous capture of that great oaf, Hagrid, to gain your trust -"  
"Hagrid's my friend," said Harry, his voice now shaking. "And you framed him, didn't you? I thought you made a mistake, but -"  
Riddle laughed her high laugh again.  
"It was my word against Hagrid's, Harry. Well, you can imagine how it looked to old Armando Dippet. On the one hand, Tom Riddle, poor but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school prefect, model student ... on the other hand, big, blundering Hagrid, in trouble every other week, trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking off to the Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls ... but I admit, even I was surprised how well the plan worked. I thought someone must realise that Hagrid couldn't possibly be the Heir of Slytherin. It had taken me five whole years to find out everything I could about the Chamber of Secrets and discover the secret entrance ... as though Hagrid had the brains or the power! Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think Hagrid was innocent. He persuaded Dippet to keep Hagrid and train him as gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have guessed ...Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did...”  
"I bet Dumbledore saw right through you," said Harry, his teeth gritted.  
"Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled," said Riddle carelessly. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school. But I wasn't going to waste those long years I’d spent searching for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."  
"Well, you haven't finished it," said Harry triumphantly. "No one's died this time, not even the cat. In a few hours the Mandrake Draught will be ready and everyone who was Petrified will be all right again -"  
"Haven't I already told you," said Riddle quietly, "that killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore? For many months now, my new target has been -you."  
Harry stared at her.  
"Imagine how angry I was when the next time my diary was opened, it was Ginny who was writing to me, not you. She saw you with the diary, you see, and panicked.  What if you found out how to work it, and I repeated all her secrets to you? What if, even worse, I told you who'd been strangling roosters? So the foolish little brat waited until your dormitory was deserted and stole it back. But I knew what I must do. It was clear to me that you were on the trail of Slytherin's heir. From everything Ginny had told me about you, I knew you would go to any lengths to solve the mystery --particularly if one of your best friends was attacked. And Ginny had told me the whole school was buzzing because you could speak Parseltongue ...So I made Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down here to wait. She struggled and cried and became very boring. But there isn't much life left in her ...She put too much into the diary, into me. Enough to let me leave its pages at last ... I have been waiting for you to appear since we arrived here. I knew you'd come. I have many questions for you, Harry Potter."  
"Like what?" Harry spat, fists still clenched.  
"Well," said Riddle, smiling pleasantly, "how is it that you a skinny boy with no extraordinary magical talent - managed to defeat the greatest witch of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"  
There was an odd red gleam in her hungry eyes now.  
"Why do you care how I escaped?" said Harry slowly. "Voldemort was after your time…”  
"Voldemort," said Riddle softly, "is my past, present, and future, Harry Potter . . . ."  
She pulled Harry's wand from her pocket and began to trace it through the air, writing three shimmering words:  
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE  
Then she waved the wand once, and the letters of her name rearranged themselves:  
I AM LORD VOLDEMORT  
"You see?" she whispered. "It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Harry - I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!"  
Harry's brain seemed to have jammed. He stared numbly at Riddle, at the orphaned girl who had grown up to murder Harry's own parents and so many others ... At last, he forced himself to speak.  
“How can you be Lord Voldemort? You’re a woman.” He said, his quiet voice full of hatred.  
“So what?" snapped Riddle. “Muggle Matriarchy means nothing to me. Do you think that a woman is somehow less capable of instilling fear in the wizarding populace?” The smile had gone from Riddle's face, to be replaced by a very ugly look.  
          “No.” He admitted quietly. “But Dumbledore is far more powerful than you are!”  
"Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!" She hissed.  
"He's not as gone as you might think!" Harry retorted. He was speaking at random, wanting to scare Riddle, wishing rather than believing it to be true. Riddle opened her mouth but froze. Music was coming from somewhere. Riddle whirled around, her dark locks swishing about her face to stare down the empty Chamber. The music was growing louder. It was eerie, spine-tingling, unearthly; it lifted the hair on Harry's scalp and made his heart feel as though it was swelling to twice its normal size. Then, as the music reached such a pitch that Harry felt it vibrating inside his own ribs, flames erupted at the top of the nearest pillar. A crimson bird the size of a swan had appeared, piping its weird music to the vaulted ceiling. It had a glittering golden tail as long as a peacock's and gleaming golden talons, which were gripping a ragged bundle. A second later, the bird was flying straight at Harry. It dropped the ragged thing it was carrying at his feet, then landed heavily on his shoulder. As it folded its great wings, Harry looked up and saw it had a long, sharp golden beak and a beady black eye.  
The bird stopped singing. It sat still and warm next to Harry's cheek, gazing steadily at Riddle.  
"That's a phoenix.”                said Riddle, staring shrewdly back at it.  
"Fawkes?" Harry breathed, and he felt the bird's golden claws squeeze his shoulder gently  
"And that -" said Riddle, now eyeing the ragged thing that Fawkes had dropped, "that's the old school Sorting Hat -" So it was. Patched, frayed, and dirty, the hat lay motionless at Harry's feet. Riddle began to laugh again. She laughed so hard that the dark chamber rang with it, as though ten Riddles were laughing at once  
"This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Harry Potter? Do you feel safe now?"  
Harry didn't answer. He might not see what use Fawkes or the Sorting Hat were, but he was no longer alone, and he waited for Riddle to stop laughing with his courage mounting.  
"To business, Harry," said Riddle, still smiling broadly. "Twice - in your past, in my future - we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk," she added softly, "the longer you stay alive."  
Harry was thinking fast, weighing his chances. Riddle had the wand. He, Harry, had Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, neither of which would be much good in a duel. It looked bad, all right ... but the longer Riddle stood there, the more life was dwindling out of Ginny ... and in the meantime, Harry noticed suddenly, Riddle's outline was becoming clearer, more solid ... If it had to be a fight between him and Riddle, better sooner than later.  
"No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me," said Harry abruptly. "I don't know myself But I know why you couldn't kill me. Because my mother died to save me. My common Muggle-born mother," he added, shaking with suppressed rage. "She stopped you killing me. And I've seen the real you, I saw you last year. You're a wreck. You're barely alive. That's where all your power got you. You're in hiding. You're ugly, you're foul -" Riddle's face contorted. Then she forced it into an awful smile.  
 "So. Your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful countercharm. I can see now ... there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered you see. There are strange likenesses between us, after all. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even look something alike ... but after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. That's all I wanted to know."  
Harry stood, tense, waiting for Riddle to raise his wand. But Riddle's twisted smile was widening again.  
"Now, Harry, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous Harry Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him . . . ."  
She cast an amused eye over Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, then walked away. Harry, fear spreading up his numb legs, watched Riddle stop between the high pillars and look up into the stone face of Slytherin, high above her in the half-darkness. Riddle opened her mouth wide and hissed - but Harry understood what she was saying ...  
"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four. "  
Harry wheeled around to look up at the statue, Fawkes swaying on his shoulder. Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. Horrorstruck, Harry saw his mouth opening, wider and wider, to make a huge black hole. And something was stirring inside the statue's mouth. Something was slithering up from its depths. Harry backed away until he hit the dark Chamber wall, and as he shut his eyes tight he felt Fawkes' wing sweep his cheek as he took flight. Harry wanted to shout, "Don't leave me!" but what chance did a phoenix have against the king of serpents?  
Something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber. Harry felt it shudder - he knew what was happening, he could sense it, could almost see the giant serpent uncoiling itself from Slytherin's mouth. Then he heard Riddle's hissing voice:  
"Kill him. "  
The basilisk was moving toward Harry; he could hear its heavy body slithering heavily across the dusty floor. Eyes still tightly shut, Harry began to run blindly sideways, his hands outstretched, feeling his way - Voldemort was laughing. Harry tripped. He fell hard onto the stone and tasted blood the serpent was barely feet from him, he could hear it coming. There was a loud, explosive spitting sound right above him, and then something heavy hit Harry so hard that he was smashed into the wall. Waiting for fangs to sink through his body he heard more mad hissing, something thrashing wildly off the pillars. He couldn't help it - he opened his eyes wide enough to squint at what was going on. The enormous serpent, bright, poisonous green, thick as an oak trunk, had raised itself high in the air and its great blunt head was weaving drunkenly between the pillars. As Harry trembled, ready to close his eyes if it turned, he saw what had distracted the snake. Fawkes was soaring around its head, and the basilisk was snapping furiously at him with fangs long and thin as sabres. Fawkes dived. His long golden beak sank out of sight and a sudden shower of dark blood spattered the floor. The snake's tail thrashed, narrowly missing Harry, and before Harry could shut his eyes, it turned - Harry looked straight into its face and saw that its eyes, both its great, bulbous yellow eyes, had been punctured by the phoenix; blood was streaming to the floor, and the snake was spitting in agony.  
"NO!" Harry heard Riddle screaming. "LEAVE THE BIRD! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU. YOU CAN STILL SMELL HIM. KILL HIMI"  
The blinded serpent swayed, confused, still deadly. Fawkes was circling its head, piping his eerie song, jabbing here and there at its scaly nose as the blood poured from its ruined eyes.  
"Help me, help me," Harry muttered wildly, "someone – anyone”  
The snake's tail whipped across the floor again. Harry ducked. Something soft hit his face.  
The basilisk had swept the Sorting Hat into Harry's arms. Harry seized it. It was all he had left, his only chance - he rammed it onto his head and threw himself flat onto the floor as the basilisk's tail swung over him again. _Help me - help me -_ Harry thought, his eyes screwed tight under the hat. _Please help me._ There was no answering voice. Instead, the hat contracted, as though an invisible hand was squeezing it very tightly. Something very hard and heavy thudded onto the top of Harry's head, almost knocking him out. Stars winking in front of his eyes, he grabbed the top of the hat to pull it off and felt something long and hard beneath it. A gleaming silver sword had appeared inside the hat, its handle glittering with rubies the size of eggs.  
"KILL THE BOY! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU. SNIFF -- SMELL HIM."  
Harry was on his feet, ready. The basilisk's head was falling, its body coiling around, hitting pillars as it twisted to face him. He could see the vast, bloody eye sockets, see the mouth stretching wide, wide enough to swallow him whole, lined with fangs long as his sword, thin, glittering, venomous -It lunged blindly -- Harry dodged and it hit the Chamber wall. It lunged again, and its forked tongue lashed Harry's side. He raised the sword in both his hands -The basilisk lunged again, and this time its aim was true -- Harry threw his whole weight behind the sword and drove it to the hilt into the roof of the serpent's mouth - But as warm blood-drenched Harry's arms, he felt a searing pain just above his elbow. One long, poisonous fang was sinking deeper and deeper into his arm and it splintered as the basilisk keeled over sideways and fell, twitching, to the floor.  
Harry slid down the wall. He gripped the fang that was spreading poison through his body and wrenched it out of his arm. But he knew it was too late. The white-hot pain was spreading slowly and steadily from the wound. Even as he dropped the fang and watched his own blood soaking his robes, his vision went foggy. The Chamber was dissolving in a whirl of dull colour.  
A patch of scarlet swam past, and Harry heard a soft clatter of claws beside him.  
"Fawkes," said Harry thickly. "You were fantastic, Fawkes . . . ." He felt the bird lay its beautiful head on the spot where the serpent's fang had pierced him. He could hear echoing footsteps and then a dark shadow moved in front of him.  
"You're dead, Harry Potter," said Riddle's voice above him. "Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Potter? He's crying." Harry blinked. Fawke's head slid in and out of focus. Thick, pearly tears were trickling down the glossy feathers.  
"I'm going to sit here and watch you die, Harry Potter. Take your time. I'm in no hurry."  
Harry felt drowsy. Everything around him seemed to be spinning.  
"So ends the famous Harry Potter," said Riddle's distant voice. "Alone in the Chamber of Secrets, forsaken by his friends, defeated at last by the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged. You'll be back with your dear Mudblood mother soon, Harry... She bought you twelve years of borrowed time ... but Lord Voldemort got you in the end, as you knew he must . . . ." _If this is dying_ , thought Harry _, it's not so bad_.  
Even the pain was leaving him...But was this dying? Instead of going black, the Chamber seemed to be coming back into focus. Harry gave his head a little shake and there was Fawkes, still resting his head on Harry's arm. A pearly patch of tears was shining all around the wound -- except that there was no wound  
"Get away, bird," said Riddle's voice suddenly. "Get away from him - I said, get away --"  
Harry raised his head. Riddle was pointing Harry's wand at Fawkes; there was a bang like a gun, and Fawkes took flight again in a whirl of gold and scarlet.  
"Phoenix tears. - ." said Riddle quietly, staring at Harry's arm. Suddenly, her cold laughter echoed through the chamber again. "Of course ... healing powers ... I forgot. . ." She looked into Harry's face. "But it makes no difference. Ginny Weasley is dead-“  
“No!”  Harry shouted, reaching for Ginny’s hand.  She cold as ice and despite his protest, he could she was, in fact, deceased.  
“And it is time for you to do the same!”  Tom grinned, raising Harry’s wand. “ _Avada-“_  
Suddenly, Fawkes scooped up both the diary and Harry’s wand, causing Tom to shout  
“Bloody bird!” Fawkes cried out again, and suddenly a faint pop echoed through the chamber.  
“Hello, Tamar.” Came Dumbledore’s cool voice.  
“Dumbledore. You dare stand against me- _The all powerful Voldemort-_ at my full strength?” The woman shouted.  
“That would be a feat, yes, Tamar. As of yet, however, you are not at your full strength.” Dumbledore said.  
“It matters little. After tonight, I will regain my strength. I will prove once and for all I am superior, with your murder!” She cried, rushing Dumbledore. Suddenly, she was thrown back, landing at Harry’s feet and deathly still. Harry recoiled, looking up at the headmaster.  
“She’s not dead, is she?”  
“No, Harry. She is, for the time being, _incapacitated._ “Dumbledore explained, striding up beside Harry.  “Come, we have much to discuss.” 


	2. Headmaster's Study

The young dark haired girl was slumped over a chair in Dumbledore's study as both he and Harry looked at her before Harry finally spoke. 

"Professor"

"Harry, your confusion is valid; the young woman sitting before is indeed Lord Voldemort. A  _shard_ of her." Dumbledore began, sitting in his seat.

"What do we do?" Harry asked, gently kicking the girl's black flat shoes. "What do we do with her, I mean?"

"All of her power exists within this diary, Harry." The headmaster said, holding up Riddle's tattered diary. "With it, she may be forced to act against her own interests to protect it. As long as this diary never finds it's way into her hands, she may be swayed to assist us." He explained. Harry glanced at her again, gulping softly.

"You don't think she'd be a bit...Uncompliant, do you professor?"

"Harry, if I held this sword to your neck, wouldn't you be compliant?" Dumbledore asked, pointing to the sword of Gryffindor. Harry nodded slightly, before sitting in a chair across from him. Tamar mumbled softly,  causing Harry to recoil slightly.

"No!" She lashed in her seat, true fear in her eyes.

"Good of you to join us, Ms Riddle." Dumbledore nodded. Tamar glanced at him.

"You wouldn't destroy it, would you?" She asked although she seemed to already know the answer. 

"Of course." The headmaster nodded, meeting her cold grey eyes. She swallowed, looking at her shoes.

"What do I..."

"Follow me," Dumbledore said, standing and leading them to a large portrait. A man's face stared back at them, causing Harry to swallow. "Flying Monkeys."The portrait opened slowly, revealing a small room with a single window.

"You are not putting me in there-"

"For safe keeping. Just a place to sleep." Dumbledore explained. "You'll take your meals in here as well. Aside from that, you're free to roam my office as you please." Tamar nodded at this.

"And in the summer?" She asked. 

"You will stay where I can keep a close eye on you." It was clear she didn't like this entire arrangement, but for the time, she seemed to be playing along.

"Should you decide to break this routine, I have placed a charm on you that will prevent any action you take in an attempt to regain your former self." The headmaster continued. Tamar nodded once again, though looking quite displeased. Harry glanced between them quietly, wondering where he fit into all of this now.

"Professor, what do I-"

"You, Harry, will first be sworn to secrecy. You will keep the diary in your possession at all times. " Dumbledore instructed. Harry nodded, before exhaling. 

"And what, I'm supposed to spend my life inside that little room?" Tamar asked.

"You'll find it's quite cosy." 


	3. Three Years Later

Dumbledore had sensed something was off; He returned to his office to find it in shambles. Books and papers were strewn about the room and in the middle of the mess was a sobbing Tamar Riddle, knees clutched tightly to her chest.

“Tamar, what…What’s bothering you?” Dumbledore asked, kneeling in front of her.

“Make it stop, make it stop, I want it to stop.” She choked.

“What? What do you want to stop?” He continued,

“It hurts.”  She continued, rocking back and forth. “I don’t know what it is, make it stop, please.”

“”Where does it hurt, Tamar?” The dark haired girl pointed to the left side of her chest.

“I don’t want it. I don’t want to f-feel t-this.” She pleaded. It was quite a dichotomy; one of the most powerful witches in England sat humbled by the very force she was supposed to be incapable of feeling.  Dumbledore, however, was beginning to understand it. Ginny Weasley's soul had been ticking away inside of Tamar for three years, festering.  The soul itself was not powerful enough to completely overtake her, but a force growing inside of it was; Ginny Weasley was in love with Harry Potter when she was only eleven and as she had died when she was that age, that love had carried into the bits of soul that were transferred into Tamar. While definitely not strong enough three years ago, having nothing but those bits of Ginny's soul to sustain herself had left tiny cracks in her stone heart.

"You're in love, Tamar," Dumbledore said quietly.

"It's not possible." She whispered, shaking her head. "I don't want it, take it away, I don't want it!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Tamar." He replied. 

"I don't want love! I don't want to feel it, I don't want to know, I want no part of it!" She shouted, backing away from him and getting to her feet. 

"Love is a beautiful thing, Tamar."

"Is it really now, you doddering oaf? Love is an utter weakness, love sent my mother to her grave!"  She protested, kicking a book across the floor. 

"That was not real love, Tamar."

"Love isn't real! It's a trick nature plays on us to get us to reproduce!" 

"That's a lie and you know it," Dumbledore replied. 

"It's not! I don't want to see Harry Potter! I don't want to see him or hear his name until I can get rid of whatever bit of that filthy blood traitor is making me feel this way!" She demanded. 

"You can't. Those bits of Ginny Weasley keep you alive Tamar, you know that." The headmaster said. 

"You're just an unhelpful as you were fifty years ago!"She scathed, heaving a book off the stairs. 

"Is not general incivility the very essence of love?" The Slytherin halted.

"Stop it." She replied, straightening her posture and her hair before returning to her little room.

 

* * *

 

“Harry, dear,” said Mrs Weasley poking her head into his and Ron's bedroom, where the pair of them were playing wizard chess watched by Hermione and Crookshanks, “could you come down to the kitchen? Professor Snape would like a word with you.”

    Harry did not immediately register what she had said; one of his castles was engaged in a violent tussle with a pawn of Ron's and he was egging it on enthusiastically.

    “Squash him - squash him, he's only a pawn, you idiot. Sorry, Mrs Weasley, what did you say?”

    “Professor Snape, dear. In the kitchen. He'd like a word.”

    Harry's mouth fell open in horror. He looked around at Ron and Hermione ,both of whom were gaping back at him. Crookshanks, whom Hermione had been restraining with difficulty for the past quarter of an hour, leapt gleefully on to the board and set the pieces running for cover, squealing at the top of their voices.

    “Snape?” said Harry blankly.

    “Professor Snape, dear,” said Mrs Weasley reprovingly. “Now come on, quickly, he says he can't stay long.”

    “What's he want with you?” said Ron, looking unnerved as Mrs Weasley withdrew from the room. “You haven't done anything, have you?”

    “No!” said Harry indignantly, racking his brains to think what he could have done that would make Snape pursue him to Grimmauld Place. Had his last piece of homework perhaps earned a 'T'? A minute or two later, he pushed open the kitchen door to find Sirius and Snape both seated at the long kitchen table, glaring in opposite directions. The silence between them was heavy with mutual dislike. A letter lay open on the table in front of Sirius.

    “Er,” said Harry, to announce his presence.

    Snape looked around at him, his face framed between curtains of greasy black hair.

    “Sit down, Potter.”

    “You know,”  said Sirius loudly, leaning back on his rear chair legs and speaking to the ceiling, “I think I'd prefer it if you didn't give orders here, Snape. It's my house, you see.”

    An ugly flush suffused Snape's pallid face. Harry sat down in a chair beside Sirius, facing Snape across the table.

    “I was supposed to see you alone, Potter,' said Snape, the familiar sneer curling his mouth, 'but Black – “

    “I'm his godfather,” said Sirius, louder than ever.

    “I am here on Dumbledore's orders.” said Snape, whose voice, by contrast, was becoming more and more quietly waspish, “but by all means stay, Black, I know you like to feel . . . involved.”

    “What's that supposed to mean?” said Sirius, letting his chair fall onto all four legs with a loud bang.

    “Merely that I am sure you must feel - ah - frustrated by the fact that you can do nothing useful,” Snape laid a delicate stress on the word, “for the Order.”

    It was Sirius's turn to flush. Snape's lip curled in triumph as he turned to Harry.

    “The Headmaster has sent me to tell you, Potter, that it is his wish for you to study Occlumency this term.”

    “Study what?” said Harry blankly.

    Snape's sneer became more pronounced.

    “Occlumency, Potter. The magical defence of the mind against external penetration. An obscure branch of magic, but a highly useful one.”

    Harry's heart began to pump very fast indeed. Defence against external penetration? But he was not being possessed, they had all agreed on that . . .

    “Why do I have to study Occlu - thing?” he blurted out.

    “Because the Headmaster thinks it a good idea,” said Snape smoothly. “You will receive private lessons once a week, but you will not tell anybody what you are doing, least of all Dolores Umbridge. You understand?”

    “Yes,” said Harry. “Who's going to be teaching me?”

    Snape raised an eyebrow.

    “He did not disclose that information to me.” he said.

    “Why can't Dumbledore teach Harry?” asked Sirius aggressively.

   “I suppose because it is a headmasters privilege to delegate less enjoyable tasks,” said Snape silkily. He got to his feet. “He expects you in his office by six o’clock on Monday nights. You are to say nothing to anyone."

    He turned to leave, his black travelling cloak billowing behind him.

    “Wait a moment,” said Sirius, sitting up straighter in his chair.

    Snape turned back to face them, sneering.

    “I am in rather a hurry, Black. Unlike you, I do not have unlimited leisure time.”

    “I'll get to the point, then,” said Sirius, standing up. He was rather taller than Snape who, Harry noticed, balled his fist in the pocket of his cloak over what Harry was sure was the handle of his wand. “If I hear you're just using these ‘Occlumency lessons’ to give Harry a hard time, you'll have me to answer to.”


	4. Occlumency Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please note that anything written in both Bold and Italics is a memory!

 

 

"Professor,you asked me to come see you?" Harry called,stepping into Dumbledore's office. He frowned. The headmaster was not there.

"Professor!" The word simply echoed throughout the office. " Professor!"

"Dumbledore isn't here,Potter."A soft voice said.

"Riddle?"

"Your beloved headmaster has asked for my assistance in teaching you the art of Occlumency. " Tamar said, snatching a lemon drop off the headmaster's desk.

"What's Occlumency? " Harry asked, sitting across from the Slytherin.

"It's a very advanced form of magic. Used properly, the art of Occlumency will shield your mind from any attempt to penetrate your conscious. " She explained. "So, listen up, Potter, because I don't like to repeat myself. In these lessons, I am not your friend, your pal or your chum, I am Lord Voldemort and I want into your head! I am not going to go easy on you. I am going to be the strictest teacher you've ever had! " She said.

Can't be half as bad as Snape Harry thought.

"Don't you need a wand?" He asked.

"Dumbledore has already taken care of that--he's given me one that's charmed to specifically perform Legilimency." She continued, moving to the side of the desk. She did not seem very happy with it,but Harry supposed that she was also just glad to have a wand again.

"In these lessons, I will attempt to break into your mind and you will attempt to resist. This is best done by envisioning a wall and focusing it towards me. Do you think that you can do that, Potter? "

Harry nodded.

"Yes."

"One more thing-"

"What?"

"I'll make you wish I was Snape." She smirked.

 

_**"This is Crabbe and Goyle. And I'm Malfoy. " The blonde spoke. "Draco Malfoy." This caused Ron to snort.** _

_**"Think my name's funny, do you? I've no need to ask yours. Red hair? And a hand-me-down robe? You must be a Weasley." Draco said with a sneer. The boys grey eyes turned back to Harry now.** _

_**"You'll soon find out,there are some folks that are better than others. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort." Malfoy continued,before extending his hand.** _

_**"I can help you there." Green eyes met Grey ones and Harry's jaw set.** _

_**"I think I can sort out the wrong sort for myself, thanks."** _

_**A soft chuckling echoed through Harry's mind and to his right,sat Tamar on the stone bannister, smiling like a Cheshire Cat.** _

_**"Tsk,tsk. I'd have shook his hand!"** _

 

"I know you would have."Harry said,exhaustion in his voice.

"How can you be so tired, Potter? It's as though you aren't even trying!" Tamar taunted.

"I am - you're just relentless!"

"My future self is indeed way worse,Potter - buck up,boy." She said."Control your emotions--you have faced my future self at the height of my power and yet you can't handle a shard of that playing tiddlywinks with your mind?"

"I'm trying!"

"Stop being so pubescent for a minute and put yourself back in that graveyard. In your mind--the Diggory boy has just died and you might be next unless you put up that wall." Tamar explained,before facing him with the wand again.

"Legilimens!"

 

_**"She's back! She's back! Voldemort's back!" Harry sobbed,resisting the efforts of someone - he did not register who-attempting to pull him away from Cedric's lifeless body. He was shouting at someone,likely Dumbledore.** _

_**"Harry,are you sure?" The headmaster asked.** _

 

_**The scene changed.** _

_**"Send an owl to Azkaban. I think they'll find they're missing a prisoner." Dumbledore instructed.** _

_**"I'll be welcomed back like a hero!" Crouch Jr. Shouted.** _

_**"Personally,I've never had much time for heroes." Dumbledore quipped. A stark laughter erupted from the memory.** _

_**"Ever the stalwart one,isn't he?" Tamar said.** _

 

"Can't we take a break? We've been at it for hours." Harry complained. Tamar exhaled.

"Go. I expect you back next weekend. " She said,gesturing for him to leave. The bespectacled fifteen year old didn't really trust the Slytherin and did not turn his back until he was out the door. Tamar slunk up the stairs,before kicking a pile of the headmaster's books. A faint pop echoed through the office.

"Now,is that any way to treat fine literature?" Dumbledore asked.

"You are a sodding old fool. You think that can continually exposing me to that...that insufferable do-gooder will make me change my mind? You think I'll just accept this love and turn over a new leaf?"

"You'd save Wizarding Britain."Dumbledore supplied. Tamar laughed.

"Yes. But who would save me?" The headmaster gave her a slightly quizzical look.

"From whom?" Dumbledore asked.

"From him,of course." She replied quietly,before retiring to her chamber.

 

Albus sat down quietly. He was struck by how uncannily similar Tamar and Merope's situations had become. Tamar had gone out of her way purposely to put love out of her life, to avoid ending up with her mother's fate and yet she had fallen into it head long.

Where did this leave Tamar Riddle? She certainly wouldn't put the safety of wizardkind above her own interests. 

Where did this leave Harry himself? Dumbledore certainly couldn't expect him to have fallen for Tamar--not knowing everything Harry knew. Dumbledore thought for a minute,before walking slowly up to the portrait. It was open,it usually was unless someone else came in.

"In your next lesson with Harry,I want you to keep off your guard. Let him in." Dumbledore explained.

"You know that I don't-"

"You will. You must. It's for his sake and yours."

"How do you propose I do that?" She asked.

"Rile him up a little,overwork him--you're very good at that."


	5. Breaking Blood

_**Underlined Text is Parsletongue!** _

* * *

_**“Look—” he murmured, holding out his arm to stop Malfoy. Something** _  
_**bright white was gleaming on the ground. They inched closer.** _  
_**It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead. Harry had never seen anything** _  
_**so beautiful and sad. Its long, slender legs were stuck out at odd angles where it** _  
_**had fallen and its mane was spread pearly-white on the dark leaves.** _  
_**Harry had taken one step toward it when a slithering sound made him freeze** _  
_**where he stood. A bush on the edge of the clearing quivered. . . . Then, out of the** _  
_**shadows, a hooded figure came crawling across the ground like some stalking** _  
_**beast. Harry, Malfoy, and Fang stood transfixed. The cloaked figure reached the** _  
_**unicorn, lowered its head over the wound in the animal’s side, and began to drink** _  
_**its blood.** _  
_**“AAAAAAAAAAARGH!”** _  
_**Malfoy let out a terrible scream and bolted—so did Fang. The hooded figure** _  
_**raised its head and looked right at Harry—unicorn blood was dribbling down its** _  
_**front. It got to its feet and came swiftly toward Harry—he seemed paralyzed with fear. There was a loud,howling laughter.** _

**_"You were an odd looking child."_ **

 

Harry shook his head. He was disheveled and sweaty,not to mention he was probably exhausted. 

"We've been at this for hours. I need a minute. " Harry complained.

"You're hopeless,Potter! I don't know why Dumbledore thinks you can perform Occlumency." Tamar snapped. "Maybe your filthy muggle mother's blood hinders such abilities."

"Shut up about my mother!" Harry yelled. Tamar chuckled. 

"Now,now,Potter. Mind your temper." She teased. Harry looked ready to burst. 

"Why do you have to be like this?"

"Because it's fun,silly boy!" Tamar laughed. Harry looked extremely irritated. There was a moment of silence that passed between them,an odd,uncomfortable silence. 

"We're going to do this until you get it right."

"I need a breather-"

"How can you be so weak?" She queried with a cruel smile. Drawing her wand back up, Tamar exhaled slightly.

She knew what Dumbledore had told her to do,but she wasn't exactly sure that she could do this without compromising herself. Still,as she steadied herself,her nerves almost completely shot. She didn't like letting people in,this went against her very nature.

"Legili-"

" _Protego_!"

 

**_As the snake slithered around her feet,the young black haired girl slowly stalked the beach quietly. The raucous group in the distance took no notice of her. She couldn't have been older than twelve, but her eyes showed much more maturity.  It was clearly summer. As the waves lapped against the beach, she seemed to instead be focused on the slippery black reptile at her feet. Her ebony hair blew in the wind,contrasting harshly against her pale skin. She wasn't wearing a swim suit like her counterparts, instead donning pantaloons that seemed to be missing their_** **_skirt and a loose blouse. Her outfit also blew slightly in the wind._ **

**_Her peace was interrupted by a large boy matching her slow, thoughtful pace. He did not seem to notice the snake at her feet,instead keeping his eyes on the gangly black haired girl._ **

**_"Hey,freak. " He was a new boy. Didn't know how things were done yet.  "Hey. Hey. I'm talking to you,freak!" He raised his voice to her._ **

**_"Go away,Bart." She said coolly,continuing her menial pace._ **

**_"Look at me when I'm talking to you,freak!" He yelled,grabbing her elbow._ **

**_" Bite Him!" Tamar commanded. This prompted the snake to launch itself at the boy's thigh,sinking it's fangs into the deep flesh. The boy went to the ground in agony,his screams alerting the group across the beach._ **

**_"Tamar,what's happened?" The matron asked._ **

**_"He provoked the snake."_ **

**_The scene changed._ **

**_A library-the Hogwarts library._ **

**_Tamar was in the corner reading. The restricted section. She was in the restricted section. Sat on the floor and curled against the wall. It was cold. Tamar liked the cold. The sound of footsteps brought her attention from the book. It was a fellow Slytherin_**.

Harry felt some resistance in the memory. Tamar's outline seemed to buzz in the memory and for a few moments Harry could not see the other's face.

**_Tamar did not greet her guest. Instead she simply glared at him. It was clear that she did not like him._ **

**_"Tammy."_ **

**_"Don't call me that,Shafiq." She snapped. She looked very annoyed with his presence._ **

**_"Why do you always have to be so posh? Do you think that you're better than the rest of us?"_ **

**_"Go away."_ **

**_"I like you,Tammy. I want to see what you're keeping in that head." He said,kneeling in front of her. It sounded like a sweet sentiment,but his eyes did not match his words._ **

**_"Little boys who play with fire get their fingers burned." Tamar said coldly._ **

**_Fire. The boy was on fire and Tamar was just standing there._ **

**_Another time. Another place._ **

**_"Come now,Cecil. I've seen the way you look at me." Tamar urged the blonde._ **

**_"My family" The boy nearly stuttered._ **

**_"The great and Noble house of Avery would sing praises to your name if they knew." She purred._ **

**_"I don't know Tamar."_ **

**_"It's just a kiss,Cecil." She mumbled,before stroking his cheek._ **

**_There was silence for a moment,before the blonde leaned over to the shorter girl._ **

_"ENOUGH!"_

Harry stared at her,wide eyed.  Tamar looked furious.

"I didn't"

"Get Out. " She snarled.

"I"

"GET OUT!" Tamar barked. 

She did not watch him leave. Instead,she slumped down in the head masters chair

"Think that could have gone better?"

"Don't ever ask me to let him or anyone else in my head ever again." Tamar demanded. Dumbledore simply chuckled.

"You know I won't make promises I can't keep."

Tamar held her head in her hands.

"He saw some things he wasn't supposed to,I take it?" Dumbledore asked.

"I  don't know why. I've buried those memories." She said. 

"He used your own power against you." The headmaster explained. "You accessed your own memories. He was just present with you." Tamar shook her head.

"You're sure you can't make this stop?"

"I cannot. "


End file.
